


And on your way home

by greenapricot



Category: Lewis (TV)
Genre: M/M, Stargazing, gentle pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23926708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenapricot/pseuds/greenapricot
Summary: “That’s a rare sight.” Lewis is leaning against the bonnet, his face tilted skyward. The surrounding landscape would be something in daylight, James assumes, but in darkness, there is only the ghostly outline of mountains to one side, trees to the other, and the wide starry sky above.
Relationships: James Hathaway & Robert Lewis, James Hathaway/Robert Lewis
Comments: 20
Kudos: 112





	And on your way home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ComplicatedLight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComplicatedLight/gifts).



> For complicatedlight from a tumblr drabble prompt: Stars and Robbie and James. As is usually the case with these things, this ended up as much more than a drabble.
> 
> Title from The National’s Looking for Astronauts because it always makes me think of stargazing.

“That’s a rare sight.” Lewis is leaning against the bonnet, his face tilted skyward. The surrounding landscape would be something in daylight, James assumes, but in darkness, there is only the ghostly outline of mountains to one side, trees to the other, and the wide starry sky above. 

“What is, sir?” 

“The Milky Way.” Lewis points up and a bit off to the left, there is an amorphous almost cloud-like band of denser stars hanging above the hills to the southwest. “Need to be away from city lights and out long enough for your eyes to adjust to the dark to see it. No hope of that in Oxford.” His voice is hushed even though there’s no one else around, as if he’s letting James in on a secret.

“I’m aware,” James says in an equally hushed tone. “Never seen it in person before, though. Only photos.” Those photos were all simultaneously clearer for their long exposures and less impressive than the real thing. “Outside of Wales and Scotland, there aren’t a lot of places in the UK where the Milky Way is visible.”

“Don’t forget Northumberland,” Lewis adds. 

James leans on the car next to him. “I could never forget the land that brought me your dulcet tones.”

“Aye, see that you don’t.” James can hear the smile in Lewis’ voice even if he can’t quite see it in the dark. “Used to lie out in the field at my nan’s, not many lights out on the farm.” 

“Or in Wales, as it turns out.” If there had been more light and he’d been more careful, in less of a hurry to get Lewis back to the concert he was meant to be attending, James would have seen that pothole and they wouldn’t be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere with a puncture waiting for a tow. They’d be halfway back to Oxford by now. Likely all the way back to Oxford. James sighs.

“A streetlight wouldn’t have saved the tyre.”

“It might have,” James says with a yawn. It’s been a long day and he’s been resisting the urge to light another cigarette—there are only two left in the pack and an unknown amount of time to wait—but it’s late and he’s tired and as much as it has appeal, he needs to not fall asleep here next to Lewis under the wide Welsh sky. “And you had plans.”

James pushes up off the bonnet to retrieve his cigarettes from his coat, which he’d thrown into the backseat at the beginning of their fateful drive. It’s warmer now than it was when they started off; a bit eerie, as these last truly warm early autumn nights always are, with the warm breeze and the rustle of falling leaves all around them in the dark. 

Both the interior light and the flame of the lighter are too bright, the hiss of tobacco loud in the silent countryside as he lights the cigarette and settles next to Lewis again. James blinks up at the sky, the brush strokes of the Milky Way no longer as clear.

“I don’t mind missing that concert, you know.” Lewis’ face is turned toward James’ in the dark, barely recognisable in the dim light except that James would recognise him anywhere, any time, even in complete darkness. James takes another drag and waits for his eyes to readjust to the dark. “You’ve done me a favour, really. Innocent would have roped me into some sort of meet and greet afterward. I’m better off here.” James isn’t entirely sure what to do with the implied, _with you_ , so he ignores it. 

“If you say so, sir.” 

“Aye, I do.” James can just make out Lewis’ smile. He’s in an oddly good mood for someone who is stuck, for an unknown amount of time, waiting for rescue with his sergeant on a Friday night. “How’s your knowledge of constellations, Mr I’m Aware of the Milky Way Even Though I’ve Never Seen It?”

“Passable.”

“Mmm,” Lewis says. “The average person’s definition of passable?”

James takes a drag and blows smoke up into the star-filled sky. “Maybe a bit more than that.”

“Let’s hear it, then. If you can name more than I can I’ll buy you a pint.” 

He knows what Lewis is trying to do, giving him something to think about besides how he could have reacted differently and not punctured that tyre. He’s grateful even if he can’t acknowledge it any more than Lewis would acknowledge any of the little things James does for him. 

“You’ll buy me a pint anyway.” James takes a final drag and stubs his cigarette out on the bottom of his shoe. “I got them last time.”

“A whisky, then.”

“You’re on.” James lies back on the bonnet for a better view of the sky. The Milky Way is clearly visible above him once again.

Lewis scoots down next to him. He lets out a small hum, as if he’s contemplating where to start, then points up at the sky, his arm brushing James’. “That bright star there,” he says. “Not the brightest one but that one up there above it.” James nods. “Then there’s another, about the same brightness, right below and to the left.” Lewis’ arm is now firmly pressed to James’ bicep as he points. “And then there’s one off to each side and one below to form a sort of cross.”

“The swan,” James answers. “Cygnus.” Out here, the spread of the swan’s wings is more obvious than he’s seen it since those few weekends he spent with his aunt as a teenager before she got sick. 

Lewis chuckles. “That was an easy one.” 

“All right,” James says. “To the left of Cygnus’ head, there’s a group of five stars.” He leans across Lewis to point them out and Lewis doesn’t shift away even a little. 

“Delphinus,” Lewis says before James has finished describing its dipper-like shape. “The dolphin. One of the smallest constellations.” 

“I’m impressed, sir.” 

“Oh,” Lewis says, turning to James, his face only inches away. James shifts on the bonnet, putting a bit of space between them so he can see Lewis’ face more clearly. “Did I mention my nan was quite the keen amateur astronomer?”

“I don’t think you did, no.” 

“Must have slipped my mind,” Lewis says with a chuckle that lets James know it did nothing of the sort. “She used to take me out every clear night during the summers I stayed with her, which was most summers. She’d help me identify them and then tell me their stories. It was lovely.” Lewis sighs, gazing up at the stars for a quiet moment before turning to James. “Want to keep going or are you willing to concede that you’ll be buying me a whisky?” 

James’ eyes have adjusted to the dark enough that he can see Lewis’ smile as well as hear it. He can’t help but smile back. Someday, if Lewis doesn’t retire and James can continue to stave off promotion, maybe there will be a time when Lewis will have no more surprising little gems of knowledge to reveal, but James doubts it. 

“You haven’t beaten me yet,” James says.

“Right then.” Lewis extends his arm and closes the space that James had put between them, leaning over to point at a spot near the horizon. “See that bright star on the other side of Cygnus from Delphinus? That’s Vega.” 

“I know that one.” 

“Of course you do, clever clogs.” Lewis bumps James’ shoulder and gives him another warm smile before turning back to the sky. James leans in a bit, to better see exactly where Lewis is pointing, and lets himself relax into the comfort of his proximity. 

“Below Vega and a bit to the north,” Lewis continues. “There’s a sort of wonky box, it’s not very bright…”

_____

**Author's Note:**

> To the best of my knowledge, the astronomical information is accurate. The constellations and the Milky Way are all visible in early autumn in the northern hemisphere if you've got a dark enough sky. The final constellation is Hercules.


End file.
